Thanks Ponraj.
Would a recommendation be to start with bigger size (crushed coral / golfball size) media and eliminating finer "matrix" as a Lesson Learned for others to prevent this?
My thoughts were to avoid clogging yet still provide enough "soak time" in the anoxic side and avoid some the early lessons shared here with H2S and pack-offs.
My reactor produces a steady slow rate of N2 bubbles (1 every 3 seconds @ 6L/hr) - I'm still waiting to see if the sizing can keep up fully with how I (my kids) feed and get away from 10-15% weekly water changes.
Be patient and ensure the flow is like a thin stream without interruption. As several others suggested 1st chamber begin with coarser media or also you can fill both the chambers with coarser media (which will also show the results).
After making so many trials, lessons I have learnt was
-Dont use finer media
-Keep the flow constant
-Don't over dose any carbon (Vinegar/Vodka)
-Reduce the carbon dose into the reactor on a weekly basis after testing nitrate from the tank water. Concept is to minimise the dosage of carbon with constant reactor output and have stable nitrate at tank water. Once the reactor get matured it even can handle the nitrates in tank water without carbon dosing.
-In my experience continuous dosing of carbon (even after the tank nitrates are down to the level where we want) causing bacteria slime inside the reactor and it start to spread to your sump. Soon after it happens it clogs the reactor and we have to clean the reactor once it happens.